Book Report

[stormkeeper_lovedoris]

 
I haven't posted in almost a month? And my last report was another book report? Probably wouldn't hurt if I did a non-book report post at some point. But here's the usual...

Also - interesting - some of the lowest overall grades I've given in a while.

Feeding the Soul by Tabitha Brown – Basically I’d sum this one up with “I love you Tabitha, but your book is meh.” Tabitha Brown is someone I follow on social media; she posts vegan recipes and words of wisdom and inspiration, and has always seemed like a lovely person. So I knew I’d read her book as soon as it dropped. Sorry to say that the book isn’t much more than platitudes about continuing to follow your dreams and not paying attention to haters – nothing all that new or useful. I sure wanted to like it though! Grade: 4 

Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good written and compiled by adrienne maree brown – This is an interesting one to describe! First, I will cheat by taking a few lines from the book’s own back cover to describe the book. “How do we make social justice the most pleasurable human experience? How can we awaken within ourselves desires that make it impossible to settle for anything less than a fulfilling life? Editor adrienne maree brown finds the answer in something she calls “pleasure activism,” a politics of healing and happiness that explodes the dour myth that changing the world is just another form of work.” I give brown credit –I’ve never really read a book like this one before and it’s innovative. It’s also such an expansive topic that one book can’t really capture. Unfortunately, despite how brown defines pleasure at the outset, most of the essays and examples do revolve around sex. I wanted more of the tie-in to activism, to the healing and world-changing I was promised. J The book is a mix of essays and interviews, and I didn’t read every word of this book; a lot of it didn’t resonate with me.  I didn’t have much interest on the section on drug use as a form of pleasure, but then the interview with someone struggling with cancer and all the side-effects of her treatments and how is she to experience pleasure now – that was illuminating. But many of the interviews just went on too long. The short essays on topics from porn to consent, along with ideas at the end for improving your own experiences, were good. So yeah, the book is pretty uneven in terms of quality. I guess at the end of the day I’d say that the book is….a good start to a conversation that needs to be had. Grade: 5

This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer – This is the 3^rd book in a series….you know the drill, an asteroid hits the moon, floods and volcanoes happen everywhere, everything goes to shit. I appreciated that in this book the characters from the first two come together (previously their storylines had been separate). There’s plenty to not like in this series too (sloppy writing, questions on how realistic any of this is, etc) but there is a 4^th book in the series and I’m engaged enough that I guess I’ll read it. Grade: 5

Beyond the Last Village by Alan Rabinowitz – The author is a specialist in wildlife conservation, and in the 1990s he goes to some of the most remote areas of Burma (Myanmar) to learn about its wildlife. I love reading stories of how people get to really remote places and such, and this aspect did not disappoint here. He also included enough interesting details about his personal life, his team and the people he meets along the way. Grade: 6

Stars Between the Sun and Moon by Lucia Jang – Doris looked at this book on the sofa and sighed, “Not another North Korea.” So yes, this is a memoir from a woman who grew up in North Korea, travelled to and from China many times just to get food during North Korea’s famine in the 1990s, was imprisoned several times, and eventually makes it to Mongolia and then Canada. It is true…many North Korean memoirs are the same story of deprivation and lack of human rights over and over again. But as always, I was glued to the page and could only marvel at the things people endure and survive. Grade: 7

Comments

[nytshd3]

I definitely think some folks do great at smaller things (list social media posts and such) but not so good at long-format stuff. Maybe that's the sitch with Tabitha Brown. Disappointing though when you've enjoyed her other stuff!

What a cool idea about making social justice a pleasurable experience! Wait, so do we get social justice by having more sex?

So with the Pfeffer series... do you feel like it started stronger and is getting less strong over time? Or has it always been a little sloppy but still engaging enough to keep going?

I had to laugh at doris's response to stars between the sun and moon.

Thanks for sharing as always!

[stormkeeper_lovedoris]

Yes LOL at "not another North Korea!" Sometimes if like a book, I get her the audio version for her commute. This is her way of saying she don't want the audio.

I guess the Pfeffer books were always just kind of trite and a far cry from fine literature. I'd say the quality has been about the same.

Thanks for reading!

[nytshd3]

Lol Doris dropping hints. 'You know how sometimes you get me audio books for my commute? I really like it when the book is NOT about North Korea.' Now the other question is, how does she feel about books about China?

Also, there are LOTS of fun books to read that are not works of great literature. Some stuff is just fun to read even if it really can't be compared to more serious books. Doesn't have to be great to be fun!